Monday, January 7, 2013

Weekend Snapshots

This weekend I...

1. Had the food experience of a lifetime by dining at Rogue 24. It's a restaurant that boasts a 16 or 24 course tasting menu executed by Chef R.J.Cooper (we chose the 24 course). Unfortunately no pictures are allowed which was a good thing because it allows you to focus on the beautiful food prepared for you instead of focusing on getting the right angle, lighting, etc for a picture. They provided a printed menu for us at the end of the meal, which was thoughtful and I'll probably write this in the books as one of my favorite dining experiences. Thanks for taking me there Sung--epic night.

2. Explored Eastern Market for the first time. Unfortunately we caught the tail end of the market as many tables were closing shop for the day but we got to explore what the market provided. There were all sorts of tables that were selling things from handmade jewelery to home decor knick knacks. I'll be coming back here when the weather warms up a bit more.

3. Since we were in the Eastern Market neighborhood, I wanted to stop by The Sweet Lobby since a friend mentioned this place to me awhile ago about how their macarons were up there with Lauduree. We couldn't resist waiting until after dinner to eat them so we snuck a couple pieces in. These macarons were probably the best ones I've had in DC so far, but I would've liked more poignant flavors to come through with the Rose and the Green tea. The Hazelnut salted caramel and Earl grey were my favorite out of the bunch. For dinner we were craving something warm and soupy so we went to check out Sakuramen. Since there isn't that many ramen places in DC, I was curious to see how this place would fare compared to Toki Underground. I ordered the spicy miso ramen and pretty much wanted to take the broth home with me. The waiter asked me on a scale of 1-5, how spicy I wanted my ramen and I told him 4. It was the perfect amount of spice in the broth--the kind where it doesn't immediately hit your palate as you taste it but instead has a spicy kick in a couple seconds. My only negative about the ramen was that the noodles could've been cooked longer but the delicious broth overshadowed that mistake so I will be coming back.

4. Went to see C.S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters on stage. It's originally a novel written by Christian writer C.S. Lewis depicting Screwtape's (the demon) letters to his nephew Wormword on the portrayal of living a Christian faith viewed from the devils point of view. Final performances for this show was this past weekend.

5. Met up and had dinner with a blast from the past childhood friend of mine at Blue Duck Tavern. It was a great night consisting of melt in your mouth food (we ordered the wagyu beef and seared duck breast), a bottle of really smooth Malbec, and a dinner conversation reminiscing about our childhood days and what we've been up to since then. Good times.